NASCAR In-Season Tournament final bracket revealed, $1M on the line

NASCAR In-Season Tournament Bracket:

• 1-seed Denny Hamlin vs. 32-seed Ty Dillon
• 16-seed Kyle Busch vs. 17-seed Brad Keselowski
• 8-seed Alex Bowman vs. 25-seed Joey Logano
• 9-seed Bubba Wallace vs. 24-seed Daniel Suarez
• 5-seed Chase Elliott vs. 28-seed Austin Dillon
• 12-seed John Hunter Nemechek vs. 21-seed Josh Berry
• 4-seed Christopher Bell vs. 29-seed Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
• 13-seed Ross Chastain vs. 20-seed Erik Jones
• 6-seed Ty Gibbs vs. 27-seed Justin Haley
• 11-seed Michael McDowell vs. 22-seed AJ Allmendinger
• 3-seed Chris Buescher vs. 30-seed Todd Gilliland
• 14-seed Zane Smith vs. 19-seed Austin Cindric
• 7-seed Ryan Blaney vs. 26-seed Carson Hocevar
• 10-seed Kyle Larson vs. 23-seed Tyler Reddick
• 2-seed Chase Briscoe vs. 31-seed Noah Gragson
• 15-seed Ryan Preece vs. 18-seed William Byron

As you can see, Denny Hamlin tops the field as the No. 1-seed entering the In-Season Tournament. Seeding was based on the best finishes for drivers over the past three races, which took place at Michigan, Mexico City and Pocono.

One notable absence is Shane van Gisbergen. While he won at Mexico City and locked himself into the playoffs, he didn’t make the cut-off to be eligible for the seeding races. So, he’ll be on the sidelines for the first ever iteration of this tournament in NASCAR.

Each round, drivers will only have to worry about one other wheelman in the field, at least as it pertains to the In-Season Tournament. Simply put, the matchup winner is the best-finishing driver between the two, and that driver advances to the next round, staying alive with a chance for a cool million.

Which tracks will they be competing at? Atlanta starts it off, followed by the Chicago Street Race, Sonoma and Dover. The finale will take place at Indianapolis, where two drivers will be pitted against one-another for all the marbles.

All told, the NASCAR In-Season Tournament should be a fascinating event, especially in its first iteration. We’ll see how it goes, but it certainly adds some intrigue, adding another layer of drama to an already action-packed summer slate on TNT.